Battery Tender Recommendation?

[James S.]

What would you recommend that is highly dependable?

Thanks in advance.

Jim

[Tom H.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

Battery Minder Plus !

http://www.batteryminders.com/batterycharger/catalog/BatteryMINDer-Plus-12-Volt-133-Amp-Charger-Maintainer-Conditio-p-16134.html

[Gary B.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

I have a couple of Shumachers and have had no problems.
Available at most auto supply shops.
Walmart is the cheapest.

[R N.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

I'm with Tom, I've got 7 of them, with the oldest one around 8-years old with no issues.

[James S.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

Thanks!

JIM

[Phil D.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

Just avoid the Sears Diehard brand charger/maintainer. I had serious issues with multiple units I already posted about in another thread. If you are gonna leave your baby plugged into the wall unattended for days or weeks at a time, you want a unit you can trust won't boil your battery or catch your garage on fire. I returned my Sears units for a refund and bought Battery Tender brand instead.

[Joe R.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

Battery Minder Plus !

http://www.batteryminders.com/batter...o-p-16134.html

Hey Tom,

I agree with you, that's the one to get! It's the only one that I know of that desulfates your battery.

Joe

[Tom L.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

Anyone have any experience with the Battery Butler advertized in the driveline by Lectric limited? I had an electrical problem in my house over the winter and my Battery Minder was a casualty along with several other electronic devices, not its fault though.

[Paul S.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

I like the c-tek 3300--use one my 67 and another on my 06 911 (the Porsche branded version, thereof). You have to shop around the web for the best price--I've seen the price vary by as much as $40 higher from place to place. And it has the desulphation function which is a desireable feature to prolong battery life.

[Terry M.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

I like the c-tek 3300--use one my 67 and another on my 06 911 (the Porsche branded version, thereof). You have to shop around the web for the best price--I've seen the price vary by as much as $40 higher from place to place. And it has the desulphation function which is a desireable feature to prolong battery life.

Any battery maintainer with a desulphation feature is useful on ANY battery. I put my driver cars on one of my maintainers periodically just for this reason. I had to buy a new battery for the Z06 yesterday -- I got 3.5 years out of the AC Delco factory original battery (made by Exide, I believe) -- and I put the new battery on the maintainer for a couple of days just for S & G.

[Michael J.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

This is a really interesting issue. I have had BatteryMINDer Plus for a few years, as there was a recommendation in the box of my Restoration Battery Delco Eye I bought. Then I purchased another battery for another of my cars from Antique Auto Battery (who claims to make the batteries supplied by Restoration Battery) and they said the Battery MINDer Plus only charges the top 1/3 of the battery and thus a battery on this will not last many years since it is not deeply charged as when you drive it frequently. They recommend the Odyssey or a good 10 amp automatic charger. Any opinions out there on this?

[Paul S.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

This is a really interesting issue. I have had BatteryMINDer Plus for a few years, as there was a recommendation in the box of my Restoration Battery Delco Eye I bought. Then I purchased another battery for another of my cars from Antique Auto Battery (who claims to make the batteries supplied by Restoration Battery) and they said the Battery MINDer Plus only charges the top 1/3 of the battery and thus a battery on this will not last many years since it is not deeply charged as when you drive it frequently. They recommend the Odyssey or a good 10 amp automatic charger. Any opinions out there on this?

Interesting--I am not sure why (other than time to full charge) the recommendation for a 10 amp output. Looking at the spec sheet for my c-tek 3300 it has a max charging output of 3 amps and indicates 3-4 hours to charge a dead battery to 80%, at which point it starts tapering off the output and it will fully charge a battery (that's not "shot"), although I've never had a stone dead battery which wasn't shorted/spent to test that out.

I know that some lower amp output maintainers can maintain but not take a battery from near dead to full charge--example, before going to the c-tek's Porsche used a different model/brand that had a lower max charging output (something around 1.5 amps). When Porsche switched to the c-tek, being able to fully charge a battery was one of the differences cited (and for quite awhile, you could by either version from Porsche dealers).

I'm no expert, but I don't think (assuming you use the maintainer whenever the car is sitting between drives) you would need 10 amps output ever. So I certainly wouldn't be in a rush to replace a maintainer you have and are happy with.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

This is a really interesting issue. I have had BatteryMINDer Plus for a few years, as there was a recommendation in the box of my Restoration Battery Delco Eye I bought. Then I purchased another battery for another of my cars from Antique Auto Battery (who claims to make the batteries supplied by Restoration Battery) and they said the Battery MINDer Plus only charges the top 1/3 of the battery and thus a battery on this will not last many years since it is not deeply charged as when you drive it frequently. They recommend the Odyssey or a good 10 amp automatic charger. Any opinions out there on this?

I suspect what they "may" mean is this -

if your battery is down below 10-10.5 volts, the Battery MINDer won't charge it. It will show that it's charging but the battery won't charge. However, if you swap on a "regular" 10A charger the battery will charge and you'll be on your way.

I had this happen last year on the 08, and the only Chevy service manager I trust told me that he has seen this. As long as you hook up the Battery MINDer when the battery level is good (or you don't lose power because it gets unplugged ) you will be fine. When this occurred I used my "regular" charger for a day then swapped back to my MINDer after that. This past winter it kept the battery in excellent charge.

Patrick

[John H.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

I've used the (Deltran) Battery Tender for many years on Delco replacement batteries, with great results. Both my '69 Z/28 and my '67 Corvette have Delco Professional Series #24-7YR batteries; the one in my Z/28 finally gave out last week (after 12 years), and the one in my Corvette is still going strong after 11 years.

Nice warranty on the Professional Series Delco batteries - full replacement (no pro-rate) up to 50 months, and pro-rate from 51 months to 7 years.

[Tom R.]

Re: Battery Tender Recommendation?

I picked up a Schauer ChargeMaster CM1A that incorporates a "conditioner" mode...the desulfation feature for under $30.00. An additional feature was what appeared to be the longer cord.

http://www.battery-chargers.com/catalog/page3.pdf